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An anonymous reader writes "HTC is the world's fifth largest phone maker, but it's starting to feel some serious pressure from giants like Samsung and Apple. HTC's third quarter net income dropped 79% from the previous quarter, and total revenues were down 48%. 'Sales of HTC's flagship One series, which debuted in February, are trailing off as Apple and Samsung spend four to six times more on marketing to ensure the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy SIII dominate the market, while strongly subsidizing their older models ... HTC's share of the global smartphone market by shipments fell to 5.8% in the second quarter from 10.7% a year earlier, according to Bloomberg. The company released its first Windows Phone 8 models in September, its most high-profile pre-Christmas launch, but Microsoft's operating system has yet to establish itself as a serious third player after Google's Android and Apple's iOS.'"

The HTC Vivid was the last AT&T phone that had a MicroSD slot. The One X variants and subsequent models do not.

Of course, the carriers hate SD slots, because they would rather you eat up all of your data accessing your stuff in the "cloud." Google is also all-to-happy to remove the SD slot for the same reason, because they want to access your data, too, and it's easier for them if you're storing it on their hard drives.

I absolutely will not buy a phone or tablet that does not have an SD slot. If they all stop offering them, I'll just keep limping along on my Inspire until it dies, and then I'll go get a prepaid dumb phone.

Smart phones are fun toys, but they are useless unless I can store my music and videos directly on them.

Not the same AC here, but I'm pretty sure that post meant that if you are storing music / video directly on the phone, you are not storing it on the sd card, because they are distinctly different items.

Correct, but I think it was an imprecision on the language rather than an uncertainty.

I've said similar before myself.

There is not enough room on any phone/tablet's built in memory to hold what I want to put on them, but with SD/microSD cards, the usually have enough. Unless you swap the card a lot, you just start to think of it as part of the phone, because you don't have to remove it. And with some phones I've had (looking at you samsuck), I've had to take the battery cover off and even take out the batte

Not the same AC here, but I'm pretty sure that post meant that if you are storing music / video directly on the phone, you are not storing it on the sd card, because they are distinctly different items.

You might as well argue the internal harddrive in your PC is a "distinctly different item"(*).

MicroSDs are too small and often difficult to switch to be practical as removable medium. They are in essence upgrade options that you use to upgrade the internal flash capacity. Of course like internal harddrives, y

Who cares? If the card is in the phone then the data is on the phone for any practical purpose. You might be accurate but it's nitpicking and nobody cares about the insignificant difference. I want my data in my hand, on card or on phone or whatever it's mine and I have access to it regardless of the network. This is why, despite the fact I love almost everything about the iPhone I own a Samsung Android phone instead. It has my 32GB microSD card installed.

I've got a HTC Desire Z, which is coming up for an upgrade on my contract. As a tablet, I have a HTC Flyer (bought at steep discount recently).

The phone has just a touch more than 32Gb of storage used between internal and external combined. The Flyer, with 32Gb internal AND a 32Gb SD card, is doing fine.

I really want a HTC One X. It's a straight up choice between that and a Samsung Galaxy S3. The HTC's build quality is better (mmmm, polycarbonate!) and it has HTC Sense - which I am used to and quite like.But I know that the moment I move to the HTC One X, I'll have to trim a few MP3s out just to do the migration. Now, perhaps that's no bad thing. It's probably overdue in fact.But if I buy the Samsung S3, I just throw my SD card in the back and start re-installing apps. It feels cheap and plasticky? Sure, buy a silicon skin from ebay or Amazon. Problem solved.

HTC have released a 64Gb version of the HTC One X, but it's too little too late. As a still newly released flagship version, it'll be much more expensive than the S3 by December/January when my upgrade rolls around.

So currently, I'm veering towards the Samsung. If the HTC One X had an SD card slot, the S3 would get about a second's consideration, then I'd buy the HTC anyway. Instead, I'm buying apps like HD Widgets (in the recent Play store sale) and starting to migrate my widgets from Sense ones to those where applicable.

Sorry, HTC. You've made a phone that's brilliant, but you forgot a very simple feature...

I have had the same GPS issue (as did 2 other units from family members, but they hadn't used GPS yet) as mentioned on the forum, but I've heard (from the repair pickup guy) that some units also have lots of issues with Wifi. My phone has now been picked up 3 times, once they

Also, don't form your buying decisions based on a few complainers. Those who have problems complain. Those who don't have problems tend to say nothing. That leads to problems seeming far bigger than they really are. There are plenty of us--me included--who bought pretty much on launch day and have no WiFi problems. HTC is great with firmware updates, supports the development community (albeit you have no warranty once you unlock, but they're upfront about that), and frankly the HTC One X (well, now the One

Don't get me wrong, I fell in love with the specs and screen as well. I still like the model, I just happened to have gotten a lousy unit and HTC has been very reluctant to help me out for about 3 months now which is dissappointing if you've just shelled out 579 Euros (almost $ 750) for a smartphone. When I went shopping for it it was a toss-up between the SIII and the One X and brand loyalty (and the fact that I think that the blue plasticy shell of the SIII is hideous) made me choose the HTC. I've owned the Touch, Desire and bought the Wildfire for my kid and they were all good phones, where everything just worked. There are more people than just the ones on the XDA board, like I said, 2 family members have the same issue as I have but didn't notice it because they don't use the navigation on the phone.

The guys that do the pickup do all the pickups for HTC in the Netherlands and at the 3rd visit (I got the same driver each time) he told me they were picking up lots of the HTC Ones, a lot of Apple iPhones but very few Samsungs, and those were mostly by user defect (cracked screen, etc).

All that leads me to not recommending it. However: if the unit you get doesn't have issues it's a very good phone, I like the build quality and feel of it, very good phone quality, the CPU is fast and doesn't drain the battery too fast, the screen is very nice and bright, the OS is responsive, basically everything you'd ask from a top model, and something I've come to expect by using my previous HTC phones.

Joe average user doesn't care about increasing their phones storage after purchase, or hot-swapping between a collection of micro sdcards that are far too easy to misplace. Provided it has a reasonable sized internal storage and I can hook it up to a PC to easily swap things around, I don't care either.

Why I loved the HTC Nexus One.
No stupid skins, just pure Android.
Fast
Zero bloatware
Updates
SD-Card
Easily unlockable bootloader
Awesome build quality
Replaceable batteries
Beautiful screen...
Reasons I dislike the new HTC phones
Terrible skins
slow (odd stutters, I think related to the skins/bloatware)
Slow updates (and CM appearing to have issues as the drivers/specs hard to get hold of)
Lack of SD-Cards (I get it, MS want's their cut, but what's the price? If it's 5bucks a device, I'm happy to pay that extra)
Locked bootloaders
Build quality falling. Pic up a HTC One S/X and on first glance it looks good, but tolerances appear to have slipped, just... not as good milling for the metal.
Non-replaceable batteries...
Screens are still good though, the contrast is great. The Camera was great quality too (though not THE most important item on a phone)...
HTC, look, you're stepping away from why your phones were so beloved at the time. You're letting 'idiot marketing/execs' get in the way of/really/ listening to your customers who know what they like and WANT to use your phones, but are being put off by terrible decisions. Seriously, everything we liked about your phones in the first place, you've got rid of. Who's brainwave WAS this to get rid of everything that made your phones so good?

I am very unimpressed! this is google's best? at least at the time? shameful. absolutely shameful.

every 10 minutes or so, I have to hard power it off and power it on again. why? the touchscreen loses its calibration!

googles best and they GAVE UP ON IT. I have the latest OTA update (from a year or so ago; they abandoned it right-quick!) and its buggy and not at all what I would expect from a 'refined instrument by google'.

HTC phones also have some of the best audio you can get in a smartphone. If you use yours as a media player like I do (and it has enough storage to be used that way...) then this is a major point in their favor, IMO. Hell, most phones seem to have a buzz or hiss!

Also, WTF do you mean by "locked bootloaders"?? HTC explicitly allows unlocking the bootloader on all their recent (i.e. last year or two) Android models. They have step-by-step instructions on their website for doing so! In my opinion, that's one o

Also, HTC is really an underdog here compared to the heavyweights of Apple and Samsung. An underdog needs to outdo the competition to survive and thrive; it has to offer a better value than the incumbents do. So while the others may be OK with leaving out the SD slot for instance, the underdog needs to put in nice features like this to get customers, otherwise the customers will just stick with the larger (and presumably more stable and safe) incumbent options. Just think about it: if the smaller competi

I just got an HTC ONE V through Virgin Mobile and dropped a 64gb MicroSD card in it. This may not be a "new" phone, but it is Android 4.0, and 3G. It is new enough for me. Same size as the Incredible I just upgraded from but 2/3rds as thick.

I'd say that using my phone for music and video is what would turn it into a toy. I use it to make phone calls, text, and look things up (especially using maps) when I'm on the go. What carriers don't like is how little data I use, since that is rapidly becoming their new cash cow (even replacing texting).

I don't think the carriers want you using your data. They want you paying for data, certainly--but using it? At least with AT&T, they've been limiting what the iPhone can do over cellular since the App Store came out. You still can't download anything over 50MB over cellular, and only recently did they enable FaceTime over cellular. It makes sense, too: The less people actually using data, the less they have to invest in infrastructure.

I absolutely will not buy a phone or tablet that does not have an SD slot.

Same here. Unlike a Tower-case PC, you can't future-proof a phone by upgrading components, but at least the microSD card can be upgraded. My old HTC Touch shipped with a 512MB card, but by retirement time was up to 4GB.

My Galaxy S2 (yes, it's no longer the newest Galaxy model) has an SD card in it and it's one of the main reasons I ditched my old iPhone. SD cards are cheap and I've never had one fail on me. There is just no way I'm going to pay $100 for an extra 8GB of onboard storage when I can buy an SD card for a fraction of that price. Not to mention that with SD cards you have virtually unlimited storage if you're willing to swap cards in and out. To swap out the SD card I have to take off the back cover and it's und

You, can but with the limited amount of space, unless you have a very small collection, you will be constantly swapping stuff in and out. I have a friend who does that, and isn't bothered by it, but I'd be annoyed as hell.

That's very nice. I'm glad you love the phone. For my usage it sucks and it appears I'm not the only one. No SD card on it, it might just as well run win8 for all the good it is to me. But hey! HTC can have the niche market for people that like their Android phone to have all the drawbacks of an iPhone without none of it's good features!

Indeed. I remember one down the street back then called "Advanced Data Computers". I always wondered what was so advanced about their data compared to everyone else.

In particular I loved the owner's response to if you asked if he had any particular item. It was invariably "No - but I can order it!". No thanks buddy. Even back then I could at least order it out of Computer Shopper myself if I felt like waiting.

BP dropped that name around the time it rebranded itself in 2001 as "Beyond Petroleum" and replaced the shield with the sunflower. If BP stands for anything, it's "Apis urine", or in layman's terms, bee pee [funnyandjokes.com].

Maybe HTC should stop making stupid design decisions like a non removable battery and no microSD expansion slot?
Owned original HTC Desire and still love it, despite browsing Slashdot on it was soo slow.

Owned original HTC Desire and still love it, despite browsing Slashdot on it was soo slow.

Blatant plug: AvantSlash - mobile version of slashdot.org [avantslash.org]. Works fine even with my wife's HTC Tattoo (Android 1.6, 256 MB RAM) and my old Nokia N82. It's implemented as a kind of proxy, so you'll need to install it on an internet-facing web server (don't all hard-core Slashdot readers have one?)

I've found a better way to browse Slashdot from mobile. Check the box in my browser that says "request desktop version" I really wish I could convince my phone to ALWAYS request the desktop version, I never ever want to see the "mobile" version of any webpage on a phone with an HD display!

But I find Slashdot works great on my Motorola XT860 loading the full desktop site.

> Some of the most profitable smartphones in the industry have a non-removable battery and no microSD expansion slot.

Name one that isn't made by Apple.

Every Android phone I've ever seen that shipped with the fatal combo of "nonremovable battery and without microSD" basically sucked. The batteries were too small, and the lack of microSD just kicked it over the edge.

Here's a good reason to demand microSD: you CAN get your phone into a state where it's sufficiently damaged to make mounting it as a USB drive

Here's a good reason to demand microSD: you CAN get your phone into a state where it's sufficiently damaged to make mounting it as a USB drive impossible, or into a bootloop where only a full factory wipe (including internal/sdcard) will get it out. When that happens, your data is gone.

And if the phone is lost or stolen?

With iOS, either you use iTunes or iCloud. Or both. Either way your data is backed up away from the phone.

Some of the most profitable smartphones in the industry have a non-removable battery and no microSD expansion slot.

Name one that isn't made by Apple.

Why? Each revision of the iPhone proves that the lack of removable batteries and microSD slots are not deal breakers that will make a phone fail. The fact that they are made by Apple doesn't change this.

Every Android phone I've ever seen that shipped with the fatal combo of "nonremovable battery and without microSD" basically sucked. The batteries w

Some of the most profitable smartphones in the industry have a non-removable battery and no microSD expansion slot. I don't think many people care about these features outside of Slashdot.

So what? If I'm some person who doesn't care about these things, then why would I want an HTC phone? What does it offer that I can't get from Apple or Samsung or whoever else makes highly profitable phones with non-removable batteries and no SD slot? If HTC is making something that's no better than these offerings from

I've bought HTC phones exclusively since Android came out but I've grown tired of all the issues that popup. Plus HTC tends to be douchey about releasing source code and drivers, so my next phone will be from elsewhere.

The Android phone market isn't quite what I would call "settled" or mature just yet. People are still exploring them and building their expectations of them. This means that when people see something in another phone that they can't or don't have in theirs, the bridge between consumer and manufacturer/seller goes up like flash paper.

HTC decided that the carriers are their customers instead of the people who actually hold the phones in their hands. So yeah, they were pretty douchey if you like to put it that way. That and HTC isn't well known for putting out "premium" handsets. (If they actually make premium handsets, I don't know.) So what you get are pretty low expectations and a lot of frustrations.

It doesn't hurt that the "anyone who does phone business with Microsoft is doomed" tradition is alive and well. That problem has been on-going for a very long time and I still haven't seen a success story yet.

I think that Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean, plus this rumor that Google will be releasing multiple Nexus devices in the next year via multiple OEMs is exactly what the Android ecosystem needs to settle itself. Up until now, each version of their OS, while great in and of it's own, has been an exercise in rapidly releasing new features to either catch up to or exceed Apple's specifications. Android 4.0/4.1, and the to-be-released 4.2 (Key Lime Pie?) are making Android just as mature as any other smartp

Ok, so my list of phones to not buy currently stands at (these have all done me or someone I know wrong):

AppleNokiaMotorollaSamsungHTCBlackberryLG

Um, is there anything left?

In any event, I'm actually looking at a Win8 phone for my next phone. My last 2 Android phones have been full of buggy crap that wasn't maintained by the handset maker. I only use 6 things with my phone: voice, sms, email, browser, maps, and music. Any phone will do that now. What I hear about the Windows phones is that they're not b

Ok, so my list of phones to not buy currently stands at (these have all done me or someone I know wrong):

AppleNokiaMotorollaSamsungHTCBlackberryLG

Um, is there anything left?

In any event, I'm actually looking at a Win8 phone for my next phone. My last 2 Android phones have been full of buggy crap that wasn't maintained by the handset maker. I only use 6 things with my phone: voice, sms, email, browser, maps, and music. Any phone will do that now. What I hear about the Windows phones is that they're not big o

HTC,I went to the Verizon store to pick up a replacement recently. No HTC One? Really? Why?

How I used to love 'ya. I'm still using my HTC Incredible. It's been, well, pretty incredible. Well, until the latest updates came out. I've had more crashes since the last update than I had over the last 3 years.

My next phone won't be an IPhone. It won't be a Windows phone either. What does that leave me with? Motorola? They break promises with 1yr old phones; Should I look at the new RAZR models? Will they get Jelly

How did you guys get into a situation where your carrier gets to decide which phones you can and cannot use?

CDMA2000, that's how. In CDMA2000, unlike in GSM/UMTS/LTE, a removable subscriber identity module [wikipedia.org] is optional, and U.S. carriers don't support it. Even on GSM/UMTS/LTE, different carriers own different frequency bands.

Change the name of the poorly named HTC EVO 4G LTE to the EVO 5 then advertise it. It stacks up well against the competition, but either people think it's a 2 year old phone or they've never heard of it.

I'm still using my HTC Nexus One, at least for a few more months until the new Nexus phones come out. It's getting a bit long in the tooth, but i'm really going to miss the combination trackball/notification light. The trackball part in particular is an awesome feature that unfortunately doesn't seem to have caught on with anyone, including HTC itself. I was worried about how well fine adjustments of the text cursor was going to work without the trackball, and after getting a Nexus 7 my fears were confirmed

That looks more convenient than my current keyboard, which has the arrow keys on the fourth page of alternate characters. However that keyboard doesn't have Swype/SlideIt type input does it?

And even if you can get to the arrow keys just by opening up the keyboard instead of opening up the keyboard and switching through four different screens, that's still rather unwieldy for navigating through menus where you don't normally have the keyboard open in the first place.

For me, HTC's strength was their continued devotion to physical QWERTY siding keyboards. I'm simply not going to be SSH-ing into a server with a touchscreen.

Two things have sunk this affection. First, HTC (like the rest of the industry) is moving away from physical keyboards. Second, the last QWERTY I got from them crapped out in a really disappointing way. I had a MyTouch 4G slide, also known as the HTC Doubleshot. Really nice phone, decent modding community. The thing is, it's got a design flaw. The flex cable between the front and back halves of the phone failed, causing a whole basket of things to go wrong. When I disassembled the unit, I could clearly see how the edge of a metal bracket was rubbing against the cable every time the phone was opened or closed.

If you've got a HTC Doubleshot, it's just a matter of time before it fails. I'm sure the design engineers recognized this problem but they likely had their fix overruled to save production cost or hustle the unit out the door. Worse, it could have been planned obsolescence, given that the problem manifested a month after the warranty expired.

Meanwhile, my HTC Dream is chugging along with new old-stock units available for $90, and HTC has walked away from the one thing they did better than the rest of the industry .

Actually, I SSH into servers from my iPhone frequently. If the virtual keyboard works for you in other contexts, it works just fine for SSH. (iSSH, the program I use, has a couple of handy controls floating on the screen that give access to things like an ESC key and arrow keys that the virtual keyboard itself lacks. I tried out a different terminal program for a while that used gestures to do the same thing, but it just wasn't as easy to use of a solution.) So bottom line is, virtual keyboards don't have any intrinsic issues with SSH use for common system administration tasks.

"If the virtual keyboard works for you in other contexts, it works just fine for SSH."

No. SSH in particular is a nightmare with an on-screen keyboard. Not only is it nightmarishly slow to just type regular words, but switching modes all the time makes it Sisyphisianly tedious to use. And if nothing else, the on-screen keyboard is completely in the way, covering most of the SSH session. Just try some console application that requires somewhat-realtime interaction (elinks perhaps?) And you'll decide in sh

Not many smartphones have physical keyboards with four arrow keys, control, escape, and tab. ALL tiny devices generally aren't good at text-heavy operations but software keyboards (especially well-designed, application-specific ones) DO have some advantages.

Hmm, that's sad... I'm trolling Craigslist right now for an HTC MyTouch 4G Slide to replace the current 3G Slide I'm still using now. I wish there was some newer phone with a physical keyboard that also ran Android 4.x out of the box.

I've dropped my 3G Slide so often (sometimes from the GPS mount on my bicycle while moving) it's not even funny. That killed a cheap microSD card I had once, but other than that and lots of dings and deep scratches and a missing camera cover, everything still works.

Yikes! Thanks for the post. I also have a MyTouch 4G Slide and I was wondering about this. Luckily I only open and use the physical keyboard maybe once a month. I use the Swype soft-keyboard for pretty much everything except for those few occasions.

And that is precisely why I have the Motorola XT860 (Canadian cousin of the US Droid 3) QWERTY keyboards are the ONLY way to go on a smartphone. SSH is a breeze, as is every other text entry task. Unfortunately phone companies have discovered they can trick users in to using on screen keyboards, and it's a lot cheaper to make a phone without physical keys, so they pretend people actually like it (and amazingly enough manage to actually convince people of it too!)there are a couple of manufacturers with QWER

My first and so far last smartphone is HTC Desire. What a piece of @#$%#!

First, the menu buttons on the bottom stop working after 1 year regular use (3 out of 3 - the phones of myself, my wife and a friend)

Second, and much more frustrating - no system updates. Zero, nada,zip! I am still running Android 2.2 ?!? Their proprietary overlay of Android is utter crap, I have no control over the device (unless I root, but damn it why bother - I should get unlocked phone from the start), I cannot remove shit like Facebook applications, stock market update (WTF?!?) and so on....sometimes the phone just stops responding because it is busy running....itself

Now, I'll admit the above is not necessarily a flaw of HTC only, but come on...Overall I am utterly disappointed by the whole smartphone thingy. I expected a small PC in my pocket and all I got is locked, slow, power hungry piece of shit, that spends 80% of its power running itself... and no, I am not going Apple because of this (different set of crap IMO) but I just might "devolve" to dumb phone again.

New slogan - "dumb phones are for smart people, smart phones are for dummies". Please, spread it around - we just might convince enough people to stop falling for the hype and get those companies in line...oh, forgot boycott does not work in our economic paradigm. Well, forget it...

There's nothing wrong with smartphones (though I'll admit battery life in most is pathetic). HTC is known to be one of the crappiest, and your experience will vary greatly between a top-rate device and a PoS.

And one bit of advice... if you want your phone to be useful, stick with a slider. It's the only option. I learned from experience with PDAs a decade ago, and it's perhaps even more true, today. VX ConnectBot (SSH client) works wonderfully if you've got any slider, and horrendously if you don't. A

Please convince the manufacturers of this!!!! They realized it's cheaper to build a phone without one, and that they can even convince most people to accept them, so nobody wants to build one anymore, and those that do, only seem to put them on their low-end phones, not the top of the line ones.I'm running a Motorola XT860 (Canadian cousin of the Droid 3) but I'm eyeing a new phone, and it's very hard to find a useable one (It's also a real pain dealing with Motorola as they are horrid about lockdown and th

Starting with "every HTC phone" and ending with "all two of them". Kids these days...

Had maybe ten of their phones starting with the Wallaby in 2003 and running WM2002, and ending with the Leo, currently running CM9 Android, three years old now. HTC always had state of the art hardware in their phones.

people know these names. HTC used to release a new phone a month on different carriers under different names with slightly different specs. diluted the brand because people didn't know what they were buying

I think you've got it more right than anyone else here. Features like an SD card and removable battery are nice, but very few people care. Just look at how well the iPhone does with neither. What really makes a difference is how you sell your product. Samsung and Apple sell the exact* same phone across all carriers. Then they advertise that single phone straight to consumers, knowing that the carrier they're on doesn't matter. HTC sells the One X exclusively on AT&T. They sell Evos on Sprint. They sell Droid Incredibles on Verizon. They can't advertise a single product line to consumers, leaving them pretty much reliant on the carriers to push their phones for them. What do they expect?

When people think Apple, they think iPhone. Samsung, they think Galaxy S. HTC, they think... well, probably nothing. None of their product lines have a strong brand identity, so people won't ask for them. And when people won't ask for you product, how do you plan to sell any when you're competing against the products people will ask for?

* I realize some internal components are different, but as far as the average consumer is concerned, they're exactly the same.

You list two manufacturers and a retailer... kinda odd... Motorola makes the droids not Verizon. Unfortunately Verizon seems to be the only retailer who wants to touch them, but that's a different issue.

The problem is HTC hasn't got the word out. Everyone's talking about the Samsung Galaxy S3 and new iphone, but the One X is, IMHO, the best phone on the market right now. The screen alone makes it better than the SGS3 and iphone 5. Also has a very nice camera and never lags. Everyone who sees my phone is like "wow, what phone is that?"

I've also owned the One V, which is a low end phone, but surprisingly feature packed. For the record, I actually like the HTC Sense interface better than vanilla android.

HTC got the word out just fine. The thunderbolt was very well known as one of the first 4g lte android phones. Problem was, everybody that got one hated it. They earned their reputation as having lots of "shiny" that doesn't actually work well. They are the anti apple, they've got the least-polished products I've seen from any Android maker...

Motorolla seems to be the most polished (and sane), even if their hardware is unexciting. Samsung isn't too bad, but they just don't put a lot of thought and effo

HTC make the second best Android phones behind Samsung. If Samsung turn evil or make stupid decisions I don't agree with, I like having HTC there as a backup. I owned a HTC HD2 (no it's not a native Android phone) but the build quality, for the time was fairly good and HTC Sense really isn't that bad. (Then again, I don't hate touchwiz either)

I hear Sony's Android phones aren't shabby but I have a hard time believing a juggernaught like Sony would release timely products or updates. Also LG and Motorola both "not bad" but HTC is definitely, in my eyes #2 - it'd be a shame to see them completely slayed.

I don't follow them too closely but I believe they were continuing to focus on Microsoft based phones which seems, completely foolhardy to me - the sales numbers on those things would be quite miniscule, fingers crossed they remain competitive. (The HTC One X does have a glorious screen, but the lack of removable battery or SD card slot is a no no, the actual design however - for the most part is quite nice looking like the S3)

My wife had an HTC phone and I found the Sense UI to be terrible. It slowed down her phone because it was so resource hungry and most of the changes in Sense didn't really add any value, they were just flashy changes meant to impress people. I flashed cyanogenmod and she loved it.
I love HTC's hardware, but would never buy one of the phones again unless they improve their awful UI.

I'd say that they don't currently have any real differentiation from the other products out there, at least not in a good way.

I'm using an HTC phone right now and I'm pretty pleased with it, but I bought it when it had already been discontinued after only being available for less than a year. Why did I buy the HTC Amaze 4G instead of the other options (HTC One S, Galaxy S II, etc.)? It has a camera button, and after my previous Samsung phone I really wanted that. It also has a replaceable battery and MicroS

It's the same old problem with Taiwanese companies. They're capable of producing a great product but don't quite appreciate the value of consistency and marketing. They don't really define a vision and are too reactive; someone else comes up with a defining product and they rush to match it. Granted, HTC has done better than most. Usually Taiwanese companies flirt with the bottom, trying to offer a feature rich product on the cheap. You get good value but you never get the sense of a committed brand focused on quality. And the Chinese have taken over this space.

Historically, however, Taiwanese companies have had to fend for themselves. South Korean chaebols have enjoyed the benefit of government backing, enabling them to focus quality and design. It created a scenario in which they were able to build global, established brands in a relatively brief amount of time. Who would have taken a Korean brand seriously 15 to 20 years ago? It took Japanese companies closer to 30 years to establish themselves and they didn't have the competition Taiwanese are facing. HTC hasn't yet been able to define themselves as a prestige brand like Apple, or even Samsung to a lesser extent.

I do think HTC has one of the best custom Android skins on the market, superior to anything the Koreans offer.

It does have an SD card, removable battery, not too big (4.3"), hardware camera buttons (for both still and video camera), nice build quality with metal all around the outside edge. Also like that at www.htc-dev.com one can get the unlock code for the boot loader - that is due to them listening to the user community.

Dislike: Sense - it's nice but I really want the option to turn it off. Samsung Galaxy Nexus has similar hardware specs inside but is much smoother.

One carefully placed frivolous patent lawsuit and HTC is finished. Meanwhile Google is, in practical terms, letting Motorola die. This will leave Appleus Maximus, Samsung and LG in the US and a few small players like Sony and Sanyo. Nokia is going away as a company.

Sounds like pretty soon the US will HAVE to allow Huwai and ZTE into US markets just to avoid the charges of letting a near monopoly happen.

Taiwan remaining independent is more important to the US than it is to Taiwan.

Seems to me US companies will outsource to companies based in Taiwan or mainland China interchangeably these days, regardless of the fact that one is democratic and the other a supposed Communist dictatorship.

I call it the Islamofacist phone (note: I've nothing against most Muslims I've met, but I do have something against countries that force it on their citizens, and companies that resell such phones as unlocked).

Most of the applications wouldn't work, you couldn't use the app store or install unapproved apps. Most installed apps didn't work except (a) the web browser, oddly enough. (B) A prayer time reminder (that you couldn't turn off, but could

That's not hardware, that's software and firmware. You can have the worst hardware on the planet and still leave your phones unlocked and release your drivers for the community to tweak. Doesn't make it a good device, just makes it easy to work with. (Not saying HTC hardware isn't good, I don't have any experience with it, I just wish people would centre their complaints in the right place)

My biggest issue is with Motorola, from a hardware perspective I haven't seen better phones than what Motorola makes, t